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THE MEN OF THE MOUNTAINS

Mrs. Peattie Writes of Them and of the Capital of the Rockies

Denver as Seen With the Eyes of a Visitor From the Prairies - Views and Impressions

Cities, like plants, are the result of conditions; and the nature of those conditions determines the quality of the plant - or the city. That is to say man makes some cities by force of attrition, production and competition. Human [?] itself is the soil from which the city grows. The precious manure is prodigally expended to keep in existence such hotbeds of effete civilization as Berlin and Paris. The necessities of man, the meeting of his demands, the catering to his pleasures, his education and his vices, are the causes of the city's prosperity and its continuance. It is like theses,
in which fish feeds upon fish, and some fishes seem born only that others may fatten upon the. Such cities are like coral reefs, which the builders build with their lives, making the voluntary sacrifice naturally, and in obedience to the instincts of their nature.

But here in the western part of this republic are cities which have come into existence, and which are sustained for different reasons. There are the cities born literally fo the earth. They feed men and do not prey upon them

Two such towns are Omaha and Denver. Both are the fruits of earth Both the natural, healthful offspring of the vast mother. One is born of the plains, the other of the mountains. One is the result of corn, wheat, hay and the garden. The other of gold, silver, lead and coal.

One does not talk about one's own town any more than one puts his own portrait on his writing desk As it is pleasanter to look at the face of another, so it is pleasanter to talk about another city than the one of which he is a part.

Denver is the miners' paradise. To earn—Denver considers that stupid. Like Tumon Of Athens it digs "Roots, roots, roots," out of the earth—roots which make the wealth of nation. The streets upon streets of business blocks, residences, schools and churches are built literally out of the mountains The many colored stone that architects and builders have used with exquisite art were quarreled from the mountains. Giant bowden, hydraulic machine, and miners' pick brought out the lead and silver taht filled those homes with luxury, and paneled the club houses with onyx and wainscoted the hotel rotundas with marble and carvings of wood. Minerva did not more triumphantly spring from the head of Jove than Denver has sprung from the mountains And above her those mountains hang always, inscrutable, terrible, beautiful, always changing warred upon by the elements, making in tender mists a mask behind which their sternness hides, fascinating and inviting the beholder

THE MEN OF THE MOUNTAINS

Mrs. Peattie Writes of Them and of the Capital of the Rockies

Denver as Seen With the Eyes of a Visitor From the Prairies - Views and Impressions

Cities, like plants, are the result of conditions; and the nature of those conditions determines the quality of the plant - or the city. That is to say man makes some cities by force of attrition, production and competition. Human [?] itself is the soil from which the city grows. The precious manure is prodigally expended to keep in existence such hotbeds of effete civilization as Berlin and Paris. The necessities of man, the meeting of his demands, the catering to his pleasures, his education and his vices, are the causes of the city's prosperity and its continuance. It is like theses,
in which fish feeds upon fish, and some fishes seem born only that others may fatten upon the. Such cities are like coral reefs, which the builders build with their lives, making the voluntary sacrifice naturally, and in obedience to the instincts of their nature.

But here in the western part of this republic are cities which have come into existence, and which are sustained for different reasons. There are the cities born literally fo the earth. They feed men and do not prey upon them

Two such towns are Omaha and Denver. Both are the fruits of earth Both the natural, healthful offspring of the vast mother. One is born of the plains, the other of the mountains. One is the result of corn, wheat, hay and the garden. The other of gold, silver, lead and coal.

One does not talk about one's own town any more than one puts his own portrait on his writing desk As it is pleasanter to look at the face of another, so it is pleasanter to talk about another city than the one of which he is a part.